Reward Tickets - Tax and Fees

Hi All,
Quick question for you. If I look at the reward spending calculator on the VS site a PE return is quoted as

Premium Economy 55000 GBP 354.43 Ongoing

Now when I go to book the actual ticket I get asked for

Premium Economy 55000 GBP 410.29 Ongoing

Some £60 in VS's favor. Do I need to contact VS or is the Spending Calculator not flexible enough to keep up with changes??

Thanks
J

what route is this and dates?

But yes I'd put it down to the static spend miles calculator page not being updated rather than any trickery by VS in the booking engine.

Hi tonybear,

It's LHR to BOS. I took the plunge and called them.
Whilst very helpful, the young guy I spoke to went off, put me on hold, came back after 5 mins and explained I was 100% correct.

He then went on to tell my that these costs are flexible and will inform the web team the costs showing are incorrect.

Ah the same old story!

The VS website not matching reality.

I often wonder where these people go when they put you on hold...

I did a double take yesterday when I saw that the "taxes and surcharges" on two 'G' rewards to Toyko are not far of £1,200!

I often wonder where these people go when they put you on hold...

I've ranted about this a few times now. The latest experience was 11 minutes (on the UC line too) to get a quote for a one-way cash upgrade from Y to PE. I was told it had to be done manually ?|

The cynic in me wonders whether they answer someone else's call whilst you are on hold, and then return to you when they put the other person on hold. It would double the revenues...

I often wonder where these people go when they put you on hold...

I've ranted about this a few times now. The latest experience was 11 minutes (on the UC line too) to get a quote for a one-way cash upgrade from Y to PE. I was told it had to be done manually ?|

The cynic in me wonders whether they answer someone else's call whilst you are on hold, and then return to you when they put the other person on hold. It would double the revenues...

That definitely does NOT happen.

In situations like this, the additional taxes need to be calculated and if you get through to somebody who may be a relatively new employee, it can take a few minutes for them to calculate these.. 11 minutes is a bit excessive though!

The taxes and charges shown on the Spending Calculator page are illustrative only, and it does clearly say this just underneath that they are subject to change and were last updated in January.. I believe there will be a system in place soon which will show the live taxes and charges for each route, so problems like this will no longer exist.

In situations like this, the additional taxes need to be calculated and if you get through to somebody who may be a relatively new employee, it can take a few minutes for them to calculate these.. 11 minutes is a bit excessive though!

Many thanks for the reply.

I am not trying to be difficult, but I'm afraid that that is a poor excuse. In an age of computers, why can the system not give you a correct answer (or just an answer!) straight away? Seriously -- it's very simple arithmetic.

I am actually a bit confused. My situation was as follows. I had been offered a certain price through MMB for the upgrade. It had then disappeared from MMB so I called up to get it. Sure enough, after the long hold I was quoted the exact same price.

If the system can proactively offer the upgrades, why can it not instantly give the price for them to an VS employee?

[Just to be clear, I am not trying to be hostile -- if there are subtleties that I don't understand, then I would be interested to learn why it is more complicated than I imagine. ]

In situations like this, the additional taxes need to be calculated and if you get through to somebody who may be a relatively new employee, it can take a few minutes for them to calculate these.. 11 minutes is a bit excessive though!

Many thanks for the reply.

I am not trying to be difficult, but I'm afraid that that is a poor excuse. In an age of computers, why can the system not give you a correct answer (or just an answer!) straight away? Seriously -- it's very simple arithmetic.

I am actually a bit confused. My situation was as follows. I had been offered a certain price through MMB for the upgrade. It had then disappeared from MMB so I called up to get it. Sure enough, after the long hold I was quoted the exact same price.

If the system can proactively offer the upgrades, why can it not instantly give the price for them to an VS employee?

[Just to be clear, I am not trying to be hostile -- if there are subtleties that I don't understand, then I would be interested to learn why it is more complicated than I imagine. ]

I understand, don't worry!

The MMB upgrades are a different thing to upgrading with miles, which is what I thought you were originally referring to.. With upgrades to tickets, there is a way that will automatically calculate the price to upgrade in the contact centre systems, and the difference in taxes and charges etc. will quickly be displayed, but for some ticket types this doesn't work, and in that case the contact centre person will then need to go into your fare history, write down relevant bits of code, calculate the difference in taxes, fare, etc. and then come back to you, so this can sometimes take a little while (especially if the fare history isn't so easy to find!)

With upgrading using miles, It's done a little differently with the booking systems used by the contact centre - it involves obtaining the fare for the upgradeable ticket types (for e.g., S class), taking down the relevant fare basis codes for that, then re-selling the seats in the relevant reward class (e.g. G class), and then faring this using the fare basis codes from the S class ticket.

It sounds relatively straight forward, but it can take a little while sometimes, although I do agree that 11 minutes is too long!

I hope this sheds a little bit of light on things!

I'm interested to know why the cost seems to have gone up about 50GBP across the board??
I have check the cost of fuel per barrel and bulk and it seems to be down from January (interweb facts, not my own)
Is there something else we are being taxed on now or a tax that has increased??

I'm interested to know why the cost seems to have gone up about 50GBP across the board??
I have check the cost of fuel per barrel and bulk and it seems to be down from January (interweb facts, not my own)
Is there something else we are being taxed on now or a tax that has increased??

This I can't help with.. I imagine it's due to the price VS paid for fuel in advance and not current rates, but I honestly have no idea.

It also depends on when the original figures were done

APD has increased for example - a couple of years ago it was £60 for a Y seat to the US now it is £ 65 (and £ 67 from April 2013)

Airport fees have also probbably gone up too.

But again the biggest part is down to the VS fuel surcharge.

Tonybear,
I was told by VS that the figures on the site were correct as Jan 12th 2012.
And yes, the fuel surcharge is now starting, and this in just my opinion as I don't case when they purchased their fuel, as pure profit but that is a whole different thread and it's a Friday

Scenario: increase miles earning potential across the board,
Pax get "signed-in" to using VS and the temptation of "reward seats" And miles account balance building.
Create "partners" which in reality are very bad value, if even available....
Increase unregulated surcharges and reduce base fare costs- boosts PR for "flights from..." adverts.
Make up difference in lower base fares by adding to surcharges- therefore capturing everyone with revenue.... v(

Not just VS I admit, but would b interesting to compare base fares against "non tax" surcharges over last couple of years.... :w